THE EVOLUTIONARY MEANING OF RETROGRADE PLANETS by JWG

[Rad]

Hi All,

I am posting a lecture Jeffrey Wolf Green did many years ago on the evolutionary meaning of retrograde planets. I will post in in several parts until the end is reached. If you have any questions occur to you as you read through it please feel free to ask.

God Bless, Rad

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                            THE EVOLUTIONARY MEANING OF RETROGRADE PLANETS
                                                        Jeffrey Wolf Green

Jeffrey: Today we will be talking about the nature of retrograde planets, and what they mean from the evolutionary point of view of the Soul. Please keep in mind that the phenomenon of a planet appearing retrograde is an apparent motion. That simply means their motion appears retrograde is relative to the Earth: it is not actually happening from the point of view of the Sun. So this is an apparent motion. Nonetheless, since it is applicable to the Earth, what we see from the surface of the Earth, there have been observed dynamics in human consciousness, and events on the Earth, that are specific to that apparent retrograde motion.

There are key archetypes that retrograde motion correlates to that are specific to retrograde archetypes. The first thing to understand is that the retrograde planet accelerates the evolutionary momentum of the Soul. The reason is that the retrograde is meant to retreat, reject or rebel against the status quo expectations of how that planet, its archetypal behavior, is expected to manifest and, thus, it accelerates the process of individuation. The retrograde function must, as an archetype, define for itself how that behavior, how that psychology, and how the circumstances which reflect that will be defined. In addition, the retrograde archetype is non-static: it rarely reaches a point in time where it goes, "Aha, that's it, no more." It emphasizes the need to continuously grow, and to continuously challenge existing limitations that promote the sense of stagnation, or non-growth. Thus, this creates a cyclic or perpetual need to redefine, retrograde, internal or external circumstances as necessary.

Again, it accelerates or emphasizes the individuation process. As a result, the function that is retrograde will place a premium on individuality, but, in so doing, it is also going to induce the sense of being different: different as measured against the status quo. For example, if we have Venus retrograde, this is going to demonstrate archetypically an individual who needs to uniquely define its own personal and social values which will then allow it to relate to itself, Venus, in a way that is reflective of its own individuality. As a result Venus retrograde will orient to relationships in such a way as to reject, rebel, retreat from the status quo expectation of how relationships, and how the roles within relationships, are meant to be played out from a societal, status quo, point of view. Thus, the person will feel different. If we apply this archetype to say a teenager in a middle class high school in Middle America, and there all kinds of teenage peer group that has all kinds of social norms which equal expected ways to be in relationships and how the genders are meant to treat each other, how is this teenager going to be able to relate to his or her peer group? Is the retrograde Venus teenager going to feel different than this? As a result, is it possible that it is going to feel itself to be a social loner? Could this not set up all kinds of cruel accusations from its existing peer group? This is exactly where the issue of emotional, psychological compensation can exist. It is not uncommon for the retrograde archetype to compensate by giving the appearance of normalcy relative to whatever function is retrograde in order to feel socially, and thus individually, secure. Yet, in so doing, it is in violation of its own natural law: how the Soul is desiring to evolve.

There are such things as retrograde personality types. This is commonly linked to birth patterns in which you find four or more retrograde planets. Typically these people, unless they are psychologically compensating, are highly introverted: retrograde. They are extremely sensitive, shy, timid, and socially unsure. Now keep in mind this issue of compensation.  Some can play a good game, and create the appearance which belies reality.

Audience: When does it become a game, and when does it become a balancing act? If we believe in the transmigration of Souls, there has been a certain point in the evolution when the planet has been direct and another time when the planet is going to be retrograde. Yet, one can go beyond that to a certain extent and balance the archetype which does have an inner and outer function.

Jeffrey: The balance that you are alluding to is for the Soul to create or design its circumstantial life to reflect its own inner essence: its intrinsic individuality. If that is done there can be a natural balance. If not, anything other than that is going to be an act of compensation in which balance can never be achieved. It is a very fine line.

Compensation is about protection. My point is that once the individual manifests the courage to define these archetypes which are retrograde to reflect its actual essence, that courage to do so will create an inner security that will withstand any sense of social insecurity that is based on not conforming to the status quo. The evolved retrograde attitude would be like the bumper sticker, "Take it or leave it".

Audience: What I think becomes important is that it is a highly individuating function, and if the function becomes paramount, and the person does this from an individual perspective rather than being forced into it collectively, then he or she can develop in a very unique way.

Jeffrey: Absolutely. And that is the key: to have it reflect their own individual law or nature. It does not mean forming group bonds with similarly alienated Souls, and adopting those alienated value systems. This is another possibility. But it would then become just another compensation relative to the consensus: the consensus now being a group of alienated people.

Audience: My son is 19 months old and has five planets retrograde including Pluto. I didn't understand the group thing.

Jeffrey: I said that some retrograde people opt for relationships with alienated Souls, Souls who are also feeling that they are not fitting into the status quo, and then adopt the consensus of the alienated peer group versus doing what retrograde demands which is to uniquely define whatever is retrograde to reflect the actual individuality or reality of the person themselves. The only way the group thing could work would be being within a group whose primary attitude is "˜define yourself to reflect yourself'.

Audience: That's how I feel our whole family is.

Jeffrey: That is the whole point. Once the environment is created which reflects the individual, then the introversion doesn't exist because there is environmental permission to be who you are. The introversions of timidity and shyness are only in environments of a consensus in which the environmental message is not to be who you are. A parent who is able to give this permission to be who you are is clearly the combination that allows this safe to be opened.

Audience: When you speak of this individuating function, I find Saturn to be particularly important because that is, of course, the social collective and if the person can't overcome that, then the person can't individuate.

Jeffrey: Yes. That is difficult. Saturn retrograde is not an uncommon symbol: Venus is the rarest to be retrograde, every 542 days out of every cycle. That is a long time: it is almost a year and three quarters. The smallest number of people with a planet retrograde are Venus retrograde people. The most common is Pluto. It is retrograde half the year every year.

Audience: There are going to be cycles too like right now where the planets are bunched through Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn where anyone born in opposition to that is going to have all of those retrograde.

Jeffrey: Yes. Going back to Saturn retrograde is going to be difficult but we always have to come back to this basic issue of evaluating the condition of the Soul. If we are observing a Soul which has already evolved to an individuated state, Saturn retrograde will not be problematic. That is only twenty percent of the population. Seventy percent of the Saturn retrogrades will be in the consensus state, and that is where the problems can exist. That is where these issues of compensation will be most observable. So this is a key point: observe the evolutionary state of the Soul. This cannot be overemphasized.

Audience: I have always felt (I have Venus retrograde) ostracized by the peer group, growing up and through the teen years and I never really felt like I was part of the classroom on the social scene. I always had to stand off most of the time. I could see what you would mean about a growth in the individuated: trying to find your own values. But with the retrograde it seems like it takes such a long time to find out what your values really are.

Jeffrey: Again, it is non-static. It is analogous to peeling the layers off an onion to arrive at the core: how quickly can that really be done? Especially when you have tears in the eyes, and you want to throw the onion away. But it again depends upon evolutionary station. I have Venus retrograde, and it is in Scorpio in the 1st house. I couldn't care less if I fit into whatever group, even astrology groups. I am a group of one, Aries, and I am quite happy.

Audience: What is an average number of planets retrograde? One or two?  Is it rare for someone to have no retrogrades?

Jeffrey: No, it is not rare. Both of my children have no planets retrograde including the nodes.

Audience: I read in a book that three was normal.

Jeffrey: Based on my own experience through counseling I would say the average is two or three. Let's take a random sample in this room of how many of you have Venus retrograde given that it's the rarest of all retrogrades (the room that Jeffrey is in has about twenty five students). Four hands in the air. That's unusual, but not in a group like this, eh? And that's because groups like this, an astrology group, are NOT PART OF THE CONSENSUS IN THIS SOCIETY.

Audience: What about Venus in Aquarius retrograde?

Jeffrey:  I can only give you the archetype: the need to define your own unique values, individually, socially, to define uniquely how you need to be in a relationship, what you will and won't accept, what the partner should and shouldn't be. And then manifesting the courage to express that. If it doesn't look like anybody else's relationship with respect to the social milieu, so be it. There is simply a need to rebel, Aquarius, against the status quo expectations. From a karmic point of view, which is the next layer of retrograde, there can be some karmic implications with respect to many past lives in which you confused the issue of friendship and intimacy, and trying to turn a valued friend into an intimate other. This then created all kinds of problems in so doing. So then the retrograde means what? 

The archetypal intent of the retrograde also applies to relearn, redo, repeat, and rethink. So, from an evolutionary and karmic point of view the retrograde can re-experience, relive dynamics, circumstances, people, events that are symbolic and reflective of other lifetimes because the lessons were not learned.

Audience: Do you think that would cause a person to have a lot of feelings or energies from past lives?

Jeffrey: Are you talking about images that occur into the consciousness?

Audience: Yes.

Jeffrey: Retrograde planets of themselves attempt to break down the barrier between conscious and unconscious and, specifically, the individuated unconscious. The retrograde archetype tries to actually access the Uranian archetype which is held in the individuated unconscious. So, of course such images can come forth as well as actually having the experience of reliving things from other times.

Audience: With Pluto retrograde you said that all intimate people that you have in your life, you have been with before.

Jeffrey: No. That is not in the Pluto book. I wrote it, I should know.

Audience: I thought you made that statement about the 8th house Pluto.

Jeffrey: Yes, that is about the 8th house Pluto, not Pluto retrograde in general.

Audience: How do those people come together?

Jeffrey: That choice, and that karmic requirement, if you look at it from this life's point of view, is established in other times. It comes under the category of fate or destiny. Generally, twenty percent any of our lives is fated, and eighty percent is free choice. When there is a karmic/evolutionary requirement to repeat or relive certain relationships with individuals in which something was not done right, finished, or completed, or even in certain cases where there is a condition of fruition, then those karmic and evolutionary requirements correlate to "˜fate'. In this context fate then directs the show beyond the current personality. Circumstances have actually been created by the Soul, unbeknownst to the conscious personality, that lead people back together.

Audience: Can it be a archetype of something that needs to be repeated rather than something which is with an actual Soul that you have been with before?

Jeffrey: From an 8th house Pluto point of view? Yes, that "˜something' can be inner dynamics that have created circumstances that need to be repeated. If that also turns out to be the need to repeat specific relationships with others then you want to look at Venus, and the ruler of the 8th house because that is essentially what is going on: what the dynamics have been. Look at the aspects that both are making in order to understand the total "˜picture' of what has gone on and why. Within that to then understand what the resolutions are of these dynamics that are being repeated so that the Soul does not have to repeat them again.

Audience: This is true all during one's lifetime, and never stops? And does it continue into future lives?

Jeffrey: It totally depends on what choices are being made during this lifetime.

Classic example. A person we knew had a deep vision to be an alternative teacher. She had a natal 8th house retrograde Pluto, and a stacked 9th house. The vision that the person had was a wonderful vision, magnificent vision, which required her to have a teaching partner. She had done this before, in another lifetime, and had others that she had partnered with for this vision to become reality. And, yet, in that former life one of those partners, a business partner, 8th house Pluto retrograde, was utterly jealous of this person. She wanted to be this person herself. Thus, she was dishonest, and completely manipulative in terms of presenting her own motivations to this person: the reasons that she wanted to help her actualize this vision. Her inner motives in that life were to help this person actualize her vision, and then to sabotage her so that she could then take over the alternative school that this person had designed.

In that life when this began to occur the 8th house Pluto person refused to understand, grasp, and accept who that person really was, what their intentions and motives were. She just wanted to forgive that person, and made up all kids of excuses manifesting as reasons as to why that person did what they did. Thus, because of this, the 8th house Pluto retrograde person created karmic and evolutionary conditions in which they would have to repeat these dynamics again so as to relearn the truth of what actually happened, and why. This was necessary of course so that the 8th house Pluto person would not do this again, so they could then evolve. And, of course, it was necessary to experience this person in this life so that the 8th house Pluto retrograde person could finally call a spade a spade to this person's face.

So as she began to implement her vision she drew to herself a person who wanted to help her actualize this vision. Everyone else around her was telling her not to get involved with that person. And, of course, that person was that same person from the former life.

So even though everyone else around her was telling her not to get involved with this person she did so anyway: it was fated. So she went ahead a made the choice to go ahead with this person. Yet, because of that person not being honest, etc, events transpired that lead them to become arch enemies. This time she did not make excuses for her, and saw everything about her with crystal clarity. And that, indeed, was the resolution relative to the karmic and evolutionary need to repeat this relationship. The lesson for this 8th house Pluto retrograde person, relative to a stacked 9th house, was to trust her intuition, and to see this particular person clearly.

Audience: What would be different with a 2nd house Pluto retrograde, versus the 8th house Pluto retrograde?

Jeffrey: Because the issues and dynamics of the 8th house is diametrically different than the second: making choices equaling union, partnership, and marriage with another. Typically, the 8th house is involved with manipulation. And, typically, 8th house Pluto people deny rabidly that there is any manipulation taking place. The most common pattern with 8th house Pluto people is that they form relationships with people, or people form relationships with them, relative to need and once the need is satisfied there is no more use for the relationship. Thus, use and manipulation. So, unless is it openly stated in the beginning of the relationship that I will be here this amount of time, and when it is over I will be gone. That will then preclude any sort of karma at that level.

Audience: Would you say that there is more of a fated quality to retrogrades? The more retrogrades the more fated the life?

Jeffrey: Yes. That can be. Especially when the issue of relive and repeat is on the line. In my own case, I have a balsamic Mars/Venus: the culmination of a cycle relative to relationships: And my Venus, again, is retrograde in Scorpio in the 1st house, and square Pluto and Saturn which are also retrograde. It is also inconjunct Uranus in Gemini in the 8th house. So, how do you think I am culminating many relationships from many lifetimes? In the kind of work I am doing.

Audience: Through vicarious association?

Jeffrey: No. By doing it impersonally, so I don't have to get closely involved. The impersonal aspect of it is the Venus retrograde inconjuncting the Uranus retrograde in the 8th house Gemini. And this takes place in the contest of my work or career: the square from the Venus retrograde to Saturn retrograde. So it becomes like a revolving door, and becomes the quickest way to do it. And, sure, all the time there is that kind of recognition factor.
                   
We must also understand that there is a collective issue with respect to retrogrades. If Mercury goes retrograde we all have to deal with the principles of redoing, redefining, and rethinking pertaining to Mercury. How many of you have experienced communications from people that you have known in this life that you have lost communication with for a period of time, and suddenly you have a re-communication? How many of you have experienced this when Mercury is retrograde? It is a common phenomenon. So what is being redone? What is being reestablished? What is the purpose?

It is a classic Mercury retrograde example that you have put together certain things in a Mercury kind of way, and strategies to accomplish them. What happens when Mercury goes retrograde is you have to rethink the whole thing. Suddenly, you are not quite so certain. What happens if you start making major decisions when Mercury is retrograde? Typically information win come to light after it goes direct that has bearing on the decision that was made when it was retrograde. So don't make major decisions when Mercury is retrograde. Always wait for it to go direct so as to become aware of that last vital piece of information to make a more logical decision. Mercury is retrograde about three weeks about three times a year.

Audience: Is it good to wait for it to get back to the degree where it went retrograde?

Jeffrey: Yes. That's a very good piece of advice.

Audience: People who have Mercury retrograde would naturally look at all angles because this for them is a deeper intensification of their mind.

Jeffrey: Actually, for people who have Mercury retrograde natally, it tends to promote a special clarity when it goes retrograde. So they get to sit back and get a great laugh while everyone else struggles, and sees what they go through throughout life!

Audience: Would that also be true for someone who has progressed Mercury retrograde?

Jeffrey: Yes. But not as strong as when it is a natal issue. But don't you see this Mercury retrograde issue right now with all these politicians questioning the nuclear arms treaty? Rethinking, redoing. Don't you see that certain of these politicians running for president are having to retract certain statements that they have made: for example Pat Robertson's ludicrous claim of missiles suddenly back in Cuba!

Audience: He has it on good authority!

Jeffrey: So, there are these collective implications.

Audience: What about stationary retrograde or direct?

Jeffrey: The stationary retrograde, or stationary direct, is a very interesting symbol because it right away is going to magnify itself: it concentrates. A student noticed that when Pluto would go retrograde, and then go stationary direct, major events would occur and yet at the point of the stationary direct it was not aspecting any other natal planets. His question was what does it mean. What it means, from Pluto's point of view, when it goes retrograde it sets in motion a gestational process, the gestation emanating from the Soul, in which the Soul is beginning to redefine certain aspects of its reality. So, by the time it goes stationary direct, it concentrates itself to induce inner or outer events which reflect what the gestation was all about. So, what the stationary does, then, is to bring into reality what the retrograde issue was trying to gestate: to rethink, redo, redefine, etc.

Audience: So, if you were born with a stationary direct, it would be an evolutionary thing, you have been in a retrograde before and are now moving direct.

Jeffrey: Yes. If you see it stationary, then this is the first life where that is taking place after that gestational process. This implies that there has been a series of prior lives in which it had been retrograde and relative to the natural evolutionary cycle, suddenly there is a life for the first time after a while in which it is now retrograde. It will move from birth through transits and progression and express itself, manifest itself, quite instinctually. Even though it will be instinctual the Soul will know how to do it, whatever it is.

Also, when you find planets, that are retrograde which form aspects to planets that are not retrograde, this is called an "˜oblique retrograde'. You can have an oblique retrograde Moon. If you have Uranus retrograde forming a square to the Moon, for example. You see? So, what would an oblique retrograde Moon actually mean?

Audience: Stabilizing and internalizing.

Jeffrey: Internalizing is the key in order to establish a state of inner emotional security. The whole intent of the retrograde is to introspect, and to internalize in order to individuate. So, relative to the Moon, the individual has decided to learn how to nurture itself, and to create a state of inner security. It infers that the person is learning to break free, to liberate, Uranus, from all external dependencies. It infers that there is a discrepancy between the parents' realities, and the child's realities. This is because the Moon is aspecting a retrograde planet. 

A person could have a whole chart that is retrograde by aspect. The same applies to the Sun. If anyone has an oblique retrograde to the Sun, it means that the person cyclically or perpetually throughout life will redefine its whole sense of purpose, and how it creatively actualizes that purpose. And, within this, how it is interpreting and giving meaning to its experience relative to that.

For example, a person with a Sagittarius Sun. And let's say that person goes through some major traumatic event. The way that the person integrates itself and gives purpose to its life is uniquely Sagittarius. That is different than integrating oneself relative to Libra. If I go through a major hardship and I am integrating by way of a Sagittarius Sun, am I not going to tend to philosophize that trauma? I will be integrating it into my existing belief patterns, and using them as a basis of making a philosophical understanding of that trauma. Is that not going to be different from Sun in Taurus, or Libra or, Cancer?

Audience: What happens if a retrograde planet is aspecting another retrograde planet? Does that undo it or intensify it?

Jeffrey: It intensifies it.

Audience: With an oblique retrograde to the Moon, do you find that when the Moon moves slower, the speed of the Moon slowing down, that this relates to a retrograde function as opposed to a quick Moon?

Jeffrey: No. It does tend to make a person much more emotional than in the faster Moons. The average motion of the Moon is 12.5 degrees per day. It can move as quickly as fifteen degrees a day, or as slow as ten degrees in a day.

Audience: When a retrograde, planet goes direct by progression, how would that effect it?

Jeffrey: That's a good question. It means that at that point in time, that which has been gestated, rethought, redone, redefined to reflect individuality tends to begin to stabilize. The person begins to put things together and tends to establish a foundation that reflects all that questioning that can be sustained for a great length of time. But, again, the natal impulse is always retrograde. It is always trying to refine, retrograde, that new structure. Just think of all those kinds of words that start with: relive, rebel, rethink, refine, redefine, etc.
Audience: Retread.   

Jeffrey: If it is not retrograde at birth, and it goes retrograde by progression, then the retrograde archetype begins to operate. Now that directness is challenged, and that person begins to feel unstable relative to the function that is going retrograde.

Audience: How many days a year is Venus retrograde?

Jeffrey: It retrogrades every five hundred and forty two days, and stays retrograde two to three weeks. That is a large cycle of un-stabilization relative to relationships. That means that a bunch of people on the planet get to redo, rethink, reflect on their relationships which includes their own relationship to themself.

So let's go ahead and now talk about each planet when it is retrograde.

[Bhaskara]

Hi Everyone,

Rad thank you for sharing this I look forward to you posting the rest...

I have a question... If you see charts with Uranus retro in the 10 and Pluto retro exactly on the mid heaven does this mean In  a general sense,  because I realize you have to look at the whole picture, but in general does this mean that Souls with this configuration have chosen to do a work function that is completely independent of others? Examples, like not work for others? Not work under others? Not collaborate with others for career?
Does this mean that the Soul is looking to create a work function that is from with in on their own terms that they create and offer to others in some way?

Thank you,
Heather

[GoldLeaf]

Nice post Rad

Heather, Ive got Uranus in the 10th retro, and even though i don't work for myself...I have to approach my work in a very individual way. Also finding a meaningful career has and is a traumatic experience!

[Rad]

Hi Heather,

Yes, and this can manifest from the second consensus state forwards.

God Bless, Rad

[Bhaskara]

Hi Everyone,

Rad thank you very much...

Heather

[Bhaskara]

Hi GoldLeaf,

I completely resonate with what you shared... Thank you...

Heather

[Rad]

Hi All,

We will now continue with JWG's talk on retrograde planets. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

God Bless, Rad

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                                                MERCURY RETROGRADE

People who have Mercury retrograde are people who, evolutionarily over many lives, have, prior to Mercury going retrograde, indiscriminately collected information from a diversity of sources in the efforts to create logical structures which will allow them to intellectually explain the nature of their existence. Because the information has been indiscriminately collected their Souls have become a library of random information that has caused intellectual confusion because of all the different forms of information that has been collected conflicts within itself. Thus, the evolutionary intention of the Mercury retrograde is to rebel, reject, to throw out all unnecessary information. The intent within this is for the Soul to orient to information that is specific and particular to its own reason for being, and thus to intellectually simplify. It means to rebel or retreat from externally gained or accepted information systems. It means to internalize in such a way that the person can develop their own voice: to arrive at their own views relative to the nature of things. It means to personalize such information.

Audience: Personal truth as opposed to social truth?

Jeffrey: Yes. As a result we have a natural antithetical archetype.

That nature of Mercury is to externalize, yet the nature of retrograde is internalize. As a result, people with Mercury retrograde, when they are exposed to knowledge which does not reflect their personal purpose, information which is not needed, then there is an automatic stiff-arm, so to speak, in the Soul which does not allow them to take in unnecessary information. This can create problems in cultures like this in which the premium, relative to educational models when we are children, is to memorize and parrot, not to conceptualize. This creates problems with the majority retrograde Mercury students. Some of these people are classically labeled slow learners. We have advocated for many years that there should be special schools taught by Mercury retrograde teachers to Mercury retrograde students. It would work: the Soul vibrations would be in harmony.

In addition, the Mercury retrograde is pointing from the left brain to the right brain. The left brain is linear, and the right brain is not. The left brain is fact-based. The right brain is intuitive. Mercury retrograde people, evolutionarily speaking, are beginning the process of relearning to rely upon and trusting their intuition as a source of information and knowledge that they are seeking. They may seek out external information sources but those sources of information would only be relative to the Mercury retrograde Souls own specific purposes and needs. When Mercury retrograde focuses on such information it can then have a photographic type memory in which that information is never forgotten. Mercury retrograde, when operating in harmony with its archetype, only speaks when there is a reason to speak.  Mercury retrograde, when it is not in harmony with its archetype, gossips like crazy, and can talk non-stop. Going from one thing to the next thing, over an over.

Audience: I know this quite intimately relative to a plane ride I just took with respect to a fellow passenger.

Jeffrey: When Mercury goes retrograde collectively then, we all come under this impulse. When it goes retrograde through progression, this is what happens. Mercury retrograde points towards Jupiter.

[Bhaskara]

Hi Everyone,

Rad how do mercury retro people find ways to actually listen, here and relate to others with equality  if they are generally geared to reject all information that is not part of their purpose when ones whole environment and relations with others may feel to be completely outside of the purpose?

Thank you,

Heather

[Rad]

Hi Heather,

Within the Mercury retrograde archetype there is nothing that correlates to not treating or hearing others equally. They are simply being naturally who they are which does not correlate to treating others as unequal to themselves.

God Bless, Rad

[Bhaskara]

Hi Everyone,

Ok Rad thank you...

Heather

[marty]

thank you Rad,

  for this posting of JWG's lecture on retrograde planets. I have a NORWAC 2013 version (that I have listened to 100 times) and that I will transcribe someday but, in the meantime, I look forward to further postings on Planetary Retrogrades and the conversations that ensue.

  this is a most brilliant lecture and everytime I listen I realize something new. It is timeless and, truly, limitless information (the mark of truth).

  I'm, especially, interested in retrogrades by 'oblique' (by direct aspect to other retrograde planets) and, especially oblique retrogrades to the moon. My thinking is that most oblique retrogrades to the moon (or the moon conjunct a retrograde planet) would simply internalize the lesson all the more and, perhaps, turn one inward to themselves more, and make an individual far more retrospective in relation to the retrograde influence. This is what I have seen in the charts I've worked on - that individual's with retrograde influence on their moons are constantly challenging, even, their own emotional truths, realities and status-quo and are highly prone to periods of intense introspection, in which the internalization of an ever-shifting emotional truths takes place.

  I have, also, found many 'retrograde-by-oblique' Mercury explanations in a chart, that would not make sense otherwise, and this seems to astound people, but I just tell them it's Jeffrey's work.

  I look forward to the retrograde conversations of the other planets, especially Neptune which seems to be so paradoxical and hard to grasp. I wonder if Rx Neptune points to a more Virgoan definition of Mercury (in comparison to a more Geminian, 3rd hs. type of interpretation). Thank you so very much.

**************

Hi Marty,

Thanks for your comments. I am posting the link to the oblique retrogrades that you had originally asked about so that others may read about it: https://forum.schoolofevolutionaryastrology.com/index.php/topic,1394.0.html

God Bless, Rad

[Rad]

Hi All,

We will now continue with the retrograde planets. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

God Bless, Rad

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                                                 VENUS RETROGRADE

Venus is the rarest archetype to have retrograde motion and the need is to, archetypically, utterly and uniquely define one's values on a personal and social level which will then allow the person to harmoniously relate to itself. As a result of this the person can then relate to others from the point of view of being centered within itself. It places a premium on the lesson of Venus from a Taurus point of view called self-reliance. Retrograde Venus people, from a spiritual point of view, are learning that the ultimate relationship is with non human being. It is with the inner Godhead. Commonly, people in monastic environments have Venus retrograde. Commonly, the artist has Venus retrograde. Commonly, the musician has Venus retrograde. The person forms a relationship with that which constitutes its work where that work is a reflection of the Soul's inner relationship to itself.

Retrograde Venus people commonly feel a high degree of social alienation through the un-relatedness, Venus, of the values systems that are shared, Venus, amongst the consensus relative to Soul's own unique and individual values. This conflict in values, of what is meaningful, of how we relate to others and why, creates a feeling of being very different with respect to the social milieu. The famous "˜wallflower'.

Audience: I don't have retrograde planets, but I can really relate to that.

Jeffrey:  If you have evolved beyond consensus state and you have planets in the social houses or the relationships houses, it can induce this effect. Anytime you have evolved out of the consensus, you are beginning to access the archetype of Uranus. Once you access the Uranus archetype consciously, that is the effect in general.

Commonly, retrograde Venus people, when they do participate in relationships, either draw individuals who are themselves rugged individualists, or they draw relationships in which they play the role of helper or counselor. The reason is that Venus correlates with the phenomena called magnetism. If you are around a person with Venus retrograde who has done the necessary inner work on themselves, then the nature of their magnetism is quite different than those who have not.

Audience: Sounds like a guru - to bring the divinity through a human being - one is able to see God through a human being - and therefore there is a relationship with a human being, not as themselves, but as bringing God through them.

Jeffrey: That can exist, but it is relative to the evolutionary state. The reason here is that people will commonly perceive in the Venus retrograde person that they truly have something to offer that is not consciously defined, and they are magnetically drawn to the person for counsel or advice. Typically happens.

The Venus retrograde principle points towards Uranus. Any retrograde archetype will point towards Uranus. It reflects the archetype of individuation, Uranus; of withdrawing from conditioning patterns outright. Venus retrograde also points to and emphasizes the Taurus side of Venus, not the Libra side. The Taurus side is all about one's inner relationship to oneself. It is also about the learning to be self reliant, and learning to identify one's own inner resources in order to sustain oneself. Within this the Taurus archetype is all about what constitutes meaning in one's life,

[Rad]

                                                    

                                                      MARS RETROGRADE

The very nature of Mars is yang, the male principle, to project outwards. And here, again, we have a retrograde principle that wants to introvert, and to internalize. Mars, of itself, wants no limitations. It is an utterly instinctual process which reflects the actual desires emanating from the Soul. These desires, in themselves, reflect .the evolutionary journey of the Soul and, thus, the instinctual need to assert or act upon any experience deemed necessary with a minimum of restriction in order to discover the reactions to the experience. It is the reactions to the initiated experience that produces knowledge. There is no forethought within Mars, of itself, no conscious intent. It is an utterly instinctual process that reflects the desires from the Soul.

The linkage of Mars and Pluto, by the way, is the archetype behind the Indian idea of maya: the illusion of separateness, the subjective ego of the Soul that is only identified with itself at a personality level, and thus the illusion of separateness. Mars also embodies the sexual instinct. So, if you turn this impulse retrograde, it can induce frustration because you certainly have a consciousness that is monitoring the nature of desires, and the intent behind any given action, or the desire behind any given experience. It is interrupting the natural instinctual flow. This can create problems.

Evolutionarily speaking, the intent is to only manifest experiences which are essential to the evolutionary purpose of the Soul, and thus not to waste time. Mars is analogous to the pinball machine: you pull the lever, the thing flies around, and it takes a while for the thing to find the final slot. Action-reaction. Action-reaction. Mars retrograde, however, only wants to initiate experiences that are essential. So, if you put such an archetype in a culture which is now putting a premium on freedom, and the person witnesses all around people who are operating antithetical to itself, what happens by way of comparison? What happens to the sexualized external instinct? What happens to sexual rhythm relative to this instinct? Is it constant, or does it fluctuate? What happens to the consciously acknowledged desire behind any given sexual attraction? It creates an automatic check or filter that allows for a conscious awareness of an archetype that is not normally conscious. That can be highly frustrating to the Mars.

Audience: Does it create sexual dysfunction or just reflection?

Jeffrey: In certain cases, it can lead into sexual dysfunction, in other cases, by way of compensation it can lead to the rabbit syndrome.

Audience: It sounds like these people have something on an instinctual level or process, and are working with it consciously which is implying responsibility in this case: a lot of responsibility. Would you say that Mars direct normally doesn't have that kind of responsibility?

Jeffrey: In and of itself, yes. Of course this can be conditioned by way of connections to other planets and/ or signs. For example Mars in aspect to Saturn can create that.

Audience: So, a more individual sense of right and wrong, rather than cultural, but the right and wrong of the Soul is the point.

Jeffrey: Right. That is the point. It is also obviously going to place a premium on the right to be an individual. It is going to place a premium on the need for freedom. From a spiritual point of view, it attempts to align the personal will at an egocentric level. Mars, with a higher will.

Audience: Even more so if it is in aspect to Pluto.

Jeffrey: Yes. It can lead to potential collisions, now emphasized, between its will and the will of other people that can make the person highly susceptible to the impact of other people's will. Mars rules the naval chakra with Pluto. This is where all of us take in the will, through the environment, of others. So, with Mars retrograde, i.e. its natural action of Mars is to project outward, and therefore we have a natural repelling force that can thwart other people's wills. So when Mars is retrograde the person is now taking it right back into itself. This can perpetually or cyclically weaken the constitution. It can lead to digestion problems because of the linkage with the chakra that is now emanating the nerves leading to digestion: the stomach, pancreas, duodenum, liver, etc.

Audience: Would that be accentuated if the Mars is retrograde in the 1st or 6th house?

Jeffrey: That would be accentuated with Mars retrograde in the 4th or 8th houses, or in Scorpio or Cancer.

Audience: What if the Mars is in a mental sign in a mental house?

Jeffrey: There would be all kinds of verbal arguments relative to the collision of wills.

Audience: Like Mars in Gemini in the 7th house?

Jeffrey: Yes.

So the key in understanding Mars retrograde is that inverts the consciousness of the Soul so that it can determine the cause, the why, of any given desire that the Soul has. As a result, the Soul, when Mars is retrograde, is desiring to eliminate all unnecessary desires that have nothing to do with what the Soul needs by way of its ongoing evolutionary journey. And this includes inverting the natural sexual energy of the Soul: to determine the reason, or the why, of any given sexual desire that is perceived as a need. When Mars goes retrograde by way of a transit or progression this same need to determine these reasons, the why, of any given desire that has lead to the creation of its life to date, including sexual desires, occurs.

As a result, the Soul will desire to eliminate or change anything in its life that no longer has anything to do with what the Soul actually needs to continue on its evolutionary journey. In the process of eliminating anything that has lead to the Soul's current state of reality the Soul will reflect on exactly what it does need, what it does desire, to move forwards on that journey. Thus, this can be a time of creating new and intensified desires to that end. And the Soul, via its will, Mars, will demand the freedom to so actualize those desires. In many, many ways when Mars goes retrograde through transit or progression it correlates to a time of Soul renewal because of this. When Mars is retrograde it points back to the Soul itself: Pluto.

[Rad]

 
                                                    JUPITER RETROGRADE

Jupiter is interesting to have retrograde. From an evolutionary point of view, the individual must eliminate all belief structures that it has accumulated over a period of many lifetimes in order to arrive at an individualized belief system, philosophical principals, abstracts, or cosmological views which are wholly arrived at, and defined, by itself. 

This then places a premium on the intuitive development of the Souls nature. This is Jupiter retrograde. It creates a focus upon the right brain. As a result, these people's belief structures tend to be redefined or adjusted throughout their lives with respect to learning strategies, to which Jupiter correlates, which have to be highly tailored to reflect the individual reality of the Soul.

As in Mercury retrograde if this is not done, the person has a very hard time assimilating, accepting, or taking in new abstract principles. Sometimes, with Jupiter retrograde, depending on the evolutionary condition of the Soul, some individuals can find it extremely difficult to find linear words, logical sentence structure, to express what they are conceptualizing or intuiting. They can commonly have a psychology of inferiority relative to communication skills with respect to what they know.

Audience: It would be more prevalent in a left brain society such as ours.

Jeffrey: Exactly. 

As a result, some of these people won't communicate even at times that they ought to communicate because of the imposed or learned inferiority. Linked with anatomy, some of these people have thyroid and pituitary issues. The thyroid is ruled by Jupiter, and the pituitary is co-ruled by Jupiter and Saturn. The pituitary is linked with the growth and decay of the entire organism: the master gland. The thyroid correlates to what you can assimilate on a nutritional level. It is not uncommon for these people to have an assimilation problem relative to the thyroid, and can have some degree of difficulty or disruption relative to the pituitary in terms of the ability to regulate the growth and decay of the organism. For example, commonly, people with Jupiter retrograde have a lack of iodine in their system which is critical to the thyroid and its ability to assimilate the nutrients that are put in the body. This can then lead to people who are very thin, and/or the opposite: very, very fat.

When Jupiter goes retrograde through transit, for all of us then all of these processes are afoot. For example, when Jupiter goes retrograde through transit in the natal chart that is an area where you can be taking a new look at: a new view. One of the correlative functions of Jupiter is to interpret phenomenal reality, and thus by way of interpretation, generate meaning. But the interpretation is based on the totality of your subjective reality which, itself, is a composite of exiting beliefs which then determines how you interpret phenomenal reality in general, and your own life, reality, specifically. 

So let's say this occurs in your 6th house. This is the area that you will then be taking a new look at. And that can include your body, your physical health. This will then create a focus within your consciousness that creates an awareness of your body that leads to what needs to be adjusted in order to sustain physical well being. If the body is physically suffering in some way at that time it then leads to the awareness of what you need to change, of what to do, in order for it to be healthy again.

This transit will create an awareness within your consciousness of anything that needs to be adjusted, of that which leads to self improvement, relative to how you have been responding to the various elements in your overall reality including work, strategies of personal improvement which are based on the need to redefine, to interpret differently. It will make you look at the issues pertaining to the 6th house differently. And this will be true of the Jupiter retrograde transit in any house or sign that it is in. As a result, you have of expansion of your consciousness through redefinition.

Audience: Is the main difference between Jupiter retrograde, and Mercury retrograde the intuitive emphasis?

Jeffrey: Yes. Mercury is specific to how you logically order your reality in a very linear way: a, b, c, d. Jupiter is how you are putting together your reality abstractly, conceptually, based on principles which become the basis of the specific words that you use to describe your reality.

Audience: What is the difference in learning difficulty?

Jeffrey: Mercury is concerned with collecting information and logically connecting that information in order to build a whole out of it. That does not mean, of itself, understanding the meaning of it, the conceptual basis of it, the beliefs that have led to the logical ordering of the information itself. The information that Mercury is orienting to is specific to its personal needs which excludes any other level of information when it is retrograde. Jupiter retrograde desires to understand, needs to understand, the conceptual, abstract, basis of anything. It needs to understand the nature of beliefs themselves as beliefs lead to how phenomenal reality is then logically ordered because of the nature of whatever beliefs. If the Jupiter retrograde person can not understand, or accept, the abstract or conceptual basis of the information that it is subjected to then a disconnect happens in its right brain. And that disconnect then tunes out the information that is coming into it.

Audience: So, if you have both retrograde?

Jeffrey: You have both processes working. And from an evolutionary point of view it then becomes essential to understand why the Soul has those archetypes both retrograde. It becomes essential to understanding such a Soul so that any projections upon it in terms of how that Soul goes about learning what it needs to learn for its own evolutionary purposes. If the Soul is aligned with the information that it is taking in, and the conceptual basis for it, then such a Soul can be one of the best learners of all. They can take in vast amounts of information very rapidly, assimilate it, and continue to move on at rates that others simply can not do. There would be the very essence of a photographic memory then. All is remembered. Almost nothing is ever forgotten. Conversely, if the Soul is not aligned with the information that it is being subjected too, does not understand the conceptual basis for that information, then it can certainly create the appearance of learning almost nothing. Such a Soul will be tuned into itself, allowing for imagination, daydreams, random ponderings about whatever, simply starring into the sky, or the wave, or the Moon, etc to induce what it feels it needs to know.

Audience: I have Jupiter retrograde ruling Sagittarius rising. Does that accentuate the whole redefinition thing more?

Jeffrey: Yes. Because your planetary ruler is retrograde. So, that colors the entire chart, conditions the entire chart. Everything in the chart comes through the ascendant, so if the ruler of that ascendant is retrograde that is why throughout your life nothing will ever seem quite right, or completely right. There is a relationship between the 9th house and the 1st house in terms of how you are trying to understand your specific sense of identity, your individuality. It is going to have to have these cosmological wrappings which set in motion the existential search for truth which is perpetually being refined and/or redefined. Perpetually.

What happens with Jupiter retrograde at an oblique level like this, meaning because Jupiter retrograde is the ruler of your ascendant it is making your entire chart retrograde because the entire chart is coming through your ascendant, is that is creates an evolution wherein you will develop a healthy respect for individual differences, cultural differences, belief pattern differences versus the need to convince and convert. And that is because there is such an emphasis on developing your own individuality.

Audience: With Jupiter retrograde in the 1st house, and Sagittarius on the 3rd house, would that also emphasize that?

Jeffrey: Yes. It would typically represent a tremendous degree of switching from the left to the right brains or visa versa. The 3rd house correlates to the left brain, and Sagittarius and Jupiter to the house of the right brain. It could be integrated to a total degree, but that integration is based on where the person finally decides to place the emphasis in their thinking processes. Are they going to allow the intellect to lead the intuition, or are they going to allow the intuition to lead the intellect? The answer with Jupiter retrograde in the 1st house, with Sagittarius on the 3rd house cusp, is to let the intuition to lead the intellect, not the other way around.

When Jupiter is retrograde at birth many of these Souls will feel as if they are always lacking something because of how they take in information. Sadly, many will then compensate for this lack. Compensation in astrology correlates to Jupiter, Sagittarius, and the 9th house. Thus, many will compensate for their perceived sense of lack by attempting to be like everyone else. They can attempt to latch onto the prevailing beliefs of the society of birth in order to feel like they fit so that they can be like everyone else. They can attempt to buy into the latest fad, of the most groovy thing to do as defined by most others around it. When this happens such Souls then create a living lie because they are not any of that. As evolutionary astrologers, when you see this in one of your clients, it is imperative that you help them try to see this act of compensation leading to the living lie. And, within that, to help them come back to their own natures, of that which they are that requires an independent examination of themselves. In turn, this can then lead to developing a life that honors their own specific individuality no matter if it does not look like anyone else's reality. As a result, they will be living their own truth.

[Bhaskara]

Hi Everyone,

Rad how do Jupiter retro Souls or oblique retro Souls know what's right for them if nothing ever feels right? I personally know this Feeling Well and I actually knew someone who has Jupiter retro and almost all their planets retro and they actually had the word "Unsatisfied" tattooed down there whole forearm. Talk about saying it all right!
So when there is this feeling of nothing ever being quite right how do they know then what is the right answer for them in anything they do? Is this not feeling quite right to keep pushing them to follow their intuitive functions?

Thank you,

Heather